Azerbaijan

2013

New
York, December 9, 2013--The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the
10-year jail sentence given today to Azerbaijani journalist Nijat Aliyev, and
calls on authorities to release the journalist on appeal.

Tags:

New
York, November 14, 2013--Authorities in Azerbaijan should release on appeala
journalist sentenced to four years
in jail on trumped-up charges of hooliganism, the Committee to Protect
Journalists said today. The conviction comes as Azerbaijan is scheduled to
assume the rotating chairmanship in the Strasbourg-based Council of Europe in
May.

New
York, September 30, 2013--An appellate court in Azerbaijan should reverse the
conviction and five-year prison sentence handed on Friday to Hilal Mamedov,
chief editor of the independent newspaper Talyshi Sado.

Tags:

New
York, September 19, 2013--Authorities in Azerbaijan must immediately release a
journalist who was arrested on Tuesday on fabricated charges and ordered
detained for two months, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. The press in Azerbaijan must be allowed to
freely cover the country's next presidential vote, scheduled for October 9, if
it is to be legitimate, CPJ said.

New
York, August 5, 2013--Authorities in Azerbaijan should stop their practice of jailing
journalists in retaliation for their work, the Committee to Protect Journalists
said today. A district court in Baku on Friday ordered the imprisonment of Sardar
Alibeili, chief editor of the independent newspaper P.S. Nota, for two
months pending investigation of a criminal hooliganism charge, according to news
reports. Alibeili, who has faced trumped-up charges in the past, faces up to
seven years in jail on the new charge, the reports said.

Tags:

New
York, June 17, 2013--Authorities in Azerbaijan should lift the travel ban
imposed against journalist Mehman Huseynov and allow him to travel freely, the
Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

New
York, May 14, 2013--Azerbaijani parliament's approval to extend criminal defamation
laws to include Internet speech is a serious setback for press freedom in a
country that severely curtails free expression already, the Committee to
Protect Journalists said today. CPJ calls on President Ilham Aliyev to veto the
bill.

Tags:

New York,
April 5, 2013--An Azerbaijani court has sentenced the editor of a religious news
website to eight years in prison on charges related to his coverage of events
involving the Muslim community. The Committee to Protect Journalists considers
the charges to be fabricated and calls on the courts to overturn the conviction
on appeal.

Tags:

New York, March 18, 2013--An appellate court in Azerbaijan
should overturn the baseless convictions of two journalists charged with
inciting mass disorder, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists is writing to bring to your attention the deteriorating climate of press freedom in Azerbaijan, which undermines your government's commitments to press freedom and human rights, mars the country's international image, and obstructs the transparency of the upcoming October presidential vote in which you reportedly plan to seek re-election. We call on you to start reversing this trend and allow the press to report freely without fear of imprisonment, attacks, or politicized lawsuits.

Tags:

Baku viciously cracked down on domestic dissent as it hosted two major international events, the Eurovision 2012 song contest and the Internet Governance Forum. Authorities imprisoned at least nine critical journalists on a variety of retaliatory charges, including hooliganism, drug possession, and extortion. CPJ concluded that the charges were fabricated. International human rights groups, including CPJ, criticized the Eurovision organizer, the European Broadcasting Union, for standing by passively as President Ilham Aliyev’s government jailed and intimidated detractors. The broadcasting union, while expressing concern about the abuses, said the contest was an “apolitical” event. Several independent journalists, including award-winning reporter Idrak Abbasov, were brutally assaulted on assignment, but the assailants, believed to have included police and security officers, enjoyed impunity. Investigative journalist Khadija Ismailova was subjected to a contemptible intimidation campaign after reporting on the ruling family’s extensive business interests. State media smeared her reputation, and anonymous individuals circulated intimate videos and photos. Parliament responded to Ismailova’s coverage by passing legislation giving the president broad immunity from prosecution and barring corporations from disclosing a wide range of financial information. Aliyev signed the bills into law in July.

Worldwide tally reaches highest point since CPJ began
surveys in 1990. Governments use charges of terrorism, other anti-state offenses
to silence critical voices. Turkey is the world's worst jailer. A CPJ special report

New York, February 13, 2013--A state
prosecutor in Baku, the capital, asked a court today to convict imprisoned journalist
Avaz Zeynally on charges of extortion and bribery and sentence him to 11 years
in jail, according to news reports. Zeynally, editor of the independent daily Khural, has been held in pretrial
detention since October 2011.

Tags:

New York, February 6, 2013--Azerbaijani authorities should
drop charges of organizing mass disorder against Tofiq Yaqublu, a columnist for
leading opposition daily Yeni Musavat,
and immediately release him from jail, the Committee to Protect Journalists
said today.